A further disassembly of the PlayStation 5 DualSense revealed the potential causes of the controller deviation.
The YouTube video, below, of iFixit looks inside DualSense to find out what is causing the deviation that some users have reported.
According to iFixit, both DualSense and DualShock 4, Xbox One and Xbox One Elite controllers use out-of-the-box joystick hardware “with a long history of predictable and preventable problems”.
The iFixit investigation found that the components of these rods “could easily exceed their useful life in just over 400 hours of play”.
But what is causing the drift in the first place? It seems to be related to the wear of the pots. A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact (rotating, in the case of DualSense) that forms an adjustable voltage divider to measure its position. Most modern game controllers have them under the hood.
There are other potential causes of drift as well. As you move the joystick, the spring-loaded self-centering mechanism may stretch slightly, creating a new neutral point. This stretched spring can cause the pots to think that your thumb is on the stick, even when it isn’t.
And finally, contaminants can cause drift. Over time, plastic dust can accumulate in the mechanism due to crushing of the components.
iFixit offers advice on how to fix a drifting DualSense controller, but it involves opening it and getting stuck in its guts. Alternatively, you can pay someone to try it, return it if it’s under warranty, or buy a new one.
IFixit ends by calling console controller manufacturers to facilitate replacing joysticks.
“It is bizarre for us that console manufacturers do not consider joysticks as consumable parts and design them to be easily replaced. No device created for a finite number of actions, especially one that lives close to so much contamination and suffers so much abuse, can maintain a perfect performance forever. “
Eurogamer News Cast – Nintendo Direct Special
This week, Eurogamer reported on a U.S. law firm that filed a class action lawsuit against Sony for alleged diversion from DualSense.
Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith (CSK & D), the company behind the ongoing class action lawsuit against Nintendo over the diversion of Joy-Con, filed a US District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a plaintiff named Lmarc Turner from Virginia and other affected customers in the U.S. against Sony Corporation of America and Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Sony hasn’t commented yet.